Community initiatives in Sheffield
We've been working hard within our communities
At Places Leisure, we are creating active places and healthy people for communities to thrive. Both within our centres and beyond their four walls, we aim to deliver - through collaboration with communities, health and wellbeing partners, and other Places for People businesses - a comprehensive service and an accessible hub for the entire community to meet and flourish.
Have a look below at a few of our local initiatives being delivered at our Sheffield Centres; Graves Health and Sports Centre, Thorncliffe Health and Leisure Centre & Wisewood Sports Centre.
Places Leisure Impact Vehicle
The Places Leisure impact vehicle allows us to take our services on the road! Since 2022 we have been delivering health and fitness services to our local communities in a variety of different ways. We have run and attended sports day activities to children across a whole range of different communities ranging from attending local parks and open space areas in the school holidays to individually ran local events for children/young adults in social housing and social care. We have also supported our local council in providing health checks and sports activities at large events such as the Sheffield Fayre and Cliffhanger event in the town centre.
We have also delivered activities in partnership with Sheffield Children university ensuring children have access to sporting activity. We have reached over 2000 people from the local community using our Community Impact Vehicle to reach less affluent area’s and promote the benefits mentally and physically from Health & Fitness.
Big Sister Project
Ran in partnership with Women in Sport, the Big Sister Project aims to break down barriers that teenage girls face in leading happy, healthy and active lives. Targeted towards girls ages 9-15 years, the programme gave them free access to exercise classes and a gym membership at our centre as well as local centres in Rotherham, Amber Valley and Norwich. In addition, offering free reusable period products to help girls feel confident when taking part in sport.
Warm Spaces
The current energy and cost of living crisis has hit many people hard over the last year. With people struggling to afford heating bills, we wanted to do our bit to help the people in our communities.
Working alongside Clarion Housing, in December 2022 we launched "Warm and Welcome Spaces" which saw our centres opened their doors to provide a warm welcome with a safe, non-judgemental space, offering facilities including:
- Hot drinks
- Wifi
- Cleaning facilities such as warm showers
- Information on local resource, hot lines and staff available to listen to any of your concerns
- Hot meals also available
- Games and entertainment for families
These spaces provided a lifeline to those who may have needed it and saw 470 visits and allowed the team particularly at Wisewood Sports Centre to offer sanctuary to local communities in surrounding areas when a gas leak affected thousands of homes.
Warm Packs
Our 'Warm Spaces' initiative did not stay contained within the centres for very long! Places Leisure delivered over 50 warm packs to rough sleepers in the local town centre and surrounding area around Graves Health & Sports Centre throughout the winter period. The packs included a thermal blanket, thermal gloves, thermal hat and a selection of sandwiches, fruit snacks and water.
Christmas can also be a tricky time for families living in poverty so we also provided a full Christmas meal and presents to Children from less affluent areas around Sheffield.
Food Banks
We have worked in partnership with the S2 foodbank to collect and distribute food for our local communities. We have seen over 10 full collections across our sites with a selection of cereals, fruit, tinned goods and a selection of cold/warm drinks.
